Ovolo

Its been a while since I last played with a Yavuz Demirhan puzzle. The last one was the Quadrant 1 reviewed over a year and a half ago. This time, Yavuz's design is the Ovolo, which was also the Exchange Puzzle of Brian Young at last year's IPP36 in Kyoto, Japan.

This is a rather nice and unusual looking 8 piece interlocking puzzle, consisting of 6 board pieces cut from 10mm acrylic and two other wooden pieces (made fromQueensland Blackbean) each comprising of three sticks glued together - like in the form of the X, Y and Z axes (see photo).  

Dimensionally the size of the assembled puzzle is 7cm x 7cm x 7cm. Construction fit and finish from Brian is as usual, impeccable and the combo of acrylic and wood gives the puzzle a rather interesting and striking appearance.

The object of course is to dis-assemble the puzzle and then -reassemble it. Taking the puzzle apart was not too difficult for me and it took just a bit of experimentation to find out how the pieces moved. I took my time with the Ovolo, wanting to commit the moves to memory so that I could (hopefully) re-assemble the thing without any help later. Took me somewhere around 5-6 moves and I got the first piece out. The rest came apart quite easily thereafter.

As Brian says on his website which retails the Ovolo for A$40/-..."this puzzle is not so difficult to take apart. But mix up the pieces, walk away and forget about them, come back later and you'll find it quite difficult to put back together. There are many false moves and dead ends; 42 false assemblies and just ONE level 5 solution.

Brian is absolutely spot on about the ease of taking the puzzle apart...but unfortunately I didn't even have to "mix up the pieces, walk away and forget about them..."; in fact while I immediately tried to put everything together hoping my memory of the moves was still fresh....I couldn't!  Somehow I got the orientation of the pieces wrong and ended up with the false assemblies. Visually, the clear acrylic was no help either and in fact added to the confusion and difficulty (that's why perhaps acrylic was used).

Finally after several days, I threw in the towel and emailed Brian/Sue for the solution. The assembly process didn't quite seem the exact opposite of the way I had taken apart the pieces...but no complaints...I got the Ovolo back to its original state. Nice attractive looking puzzle with fairly simple looking pieces. Don't let the level 5.2.2.1.1.3 solution fool you. Relatively easy to disassemble but putting everything back together can be a real nightmare! 

Quadrant I

Quadrant I is the first of my eighty-eight Exchange Puzzles that I am playing with since coming home from IPP35 in Canada last month.

This was Eric Fuller's exchange puzzle and was designed by Turkish designer, Yavuz Demirhan. At last count, he has 422 of his designs uploaded to PWBP.

Its made of maple, walnut and cherry and roughly about 7.5 cm square and 3.5 cm thick. Coming from Eric himself, the quality of construction and finish is top notch no less. Everything is very precise and all the pieces fit and slide smoothly with just a hint of snugness.

The object of Quadrant I is to disassemble and reassemble the four pieces, each of which comprises a sandwich of three blocks (rather similar to the Road Blocks in the previous post). But the pieces here go round and interlock with a square ring instead of falling into a box as a packing puzzle.

At level 6 with a total of 15 moves, this is not a difficult puzzle. Once you understand how the pieces move and are extracted, it is pretty manageable and when the first piece comes out, the rest follow suit easily. The small number of moves to take out the first piece also makes it relatively easier to remember the reverse sequence for re-assembly. No Burr Tools needed here...hooray!

For non-burrist like myself, the Quadrant I is a great puzzle and really appropriate as an exchange puzzle, with just the right level of difficulty. Experienced puzzlers should have no problem with this one.

Lion Claw

This weekend was filled with family and other commitments so I decided that my puzzle for a Sunday evening should be something I can solve easily (and without Burr Tools). 

My choice was Yavuz Demirhan's Lion Claw, a relatively easy but great looking Level 5.2.2 interlocking burr. My copy was made from Canarywood by Brian Menold and it came courtesy of Brian when I ordered from him Jos Bergmans' Garmbaad. The pieces of this particular copy were apparently a tad too "loose" and hence did not pass the QC for sale on his website. But for Singapore weather, it was just fine; the high humidity made the puzzle pleasantly snug fitting but smooth sliding!

This is a relatively large puzzle and felt great in the hands. The object is to disassemble the 4 pieces. Not difficult (excellent for a non-burrist like me) and I got them apart in a jiffy. Putting it together required a bit of experimentation, but it was back to the solved state quite quickly, and I managed without any aids. 

Lion Claw with all 4 of its pieces congruent is a great novice's or beginner's burr (the sort of burr that I like). Also built thick and tough like a tank, so no fear of abuse.

Autobahnkreuz

Update 23 October 2017 - Dear Reader, please check out my new puzzle blog and e-store at http://mechanical-puzzles.com

Its been a while since I last played with a Yavuz Demirhan design. So Autobahnkreuz was the puzzle of the day. Yavuz, as most puzzlers would know, hails from Turkey and currently has one of the most number of designs (409 as of this post) uploaded to PuzzleWillBePlayed. To say he is a very prolific designer would really be an understatement!

I got the Autobahnkreuz (which by the way in German means "motorway interchange") from the Pelikan Workshop, the guys from the Czech Republic who have been regularly bringing to the market wooden puzzles of outstanding quality. And did I mention that they are also value for money too?

The Autobahnkruez is no exception and my copy is excellently made with nice tolerances. Snug enough for the pieces to hold them themselves together but smooth enough to slide. This is one puzzle you don't want to be too "loose fit".

The puzzle is what is known as a board burr, meaning all the pieces are flat 2D. There are 8 board pieces in total, all of which are congruent, ie all the same shape. I was inspired by Yavuz's design here, which led to my (very) amateur design efforts resulting in the CrossRoads, a smaller 8 piece board burr design. Without Yavuz's design prowess, I only managed to get an interlocking design (level 12) by using all different shaped pieces. None of the elegance of Yavuz's 8 congruent shapes.

Autobahnkreuz is a rather difficult puzzle, not just in terms of the dismantling; which I managed to do so after a fair bit of trial and error. But the re-assembly is tough, unless you have a solid memory and remember all the steps in reverse. 

You will notice that the 8 pieces comprise of 4 pairs of 4 different woods (arcasia, maple, wenge and paduak). Firstly to put together the pieces to the solved shape is difficult enough (level 9.5.3.4.2.2.2). But you also need to get all the pieces to form a symmetrical colour pattern. Not to mention you have to grapple with up to 8 pieces at the same time. Thankfully Burr Tools was on hand. Instead of configuring BT for 8 congruent pieces (resulting in one unique solution with one single colour puzzle), I specified BT to have 4 different pairs with 4 different colours. Hence, you will end up with 648 assemblies of which one solution will give you the right colour co-ordination. On my BT file, its solution #76.

Burr lovers will like this one. Very challenging! Well made, nice big and heavy with a great colour scheme!

Cubax / Rastaban

The Cubax and Rastaban puzzles were designed by Turkish designer Yavuz Demirhan in 2013 and made by Pelikan of the Czech Republic. Craftsmanship for both puzzles are superb with excellent fit and finish. 

My copy of the Cubax is made of Maple and Paduak while the Rastaban is fashioned out of Acacia, Maple, Wenge and Paduak. Nice colour contrast for the latter.

Cubax

Rastaban

Both are interlocking puzzles comprising of burr pieces forming their respective shapes. While they look physically very different, I personally found the solve for both puzzles somewhat similar in terms of how the pieces moved and came apart. 

The Cubax has 13 pieces with 16 moves while the Rastaban has 9 but needs 15 moves. The Rastaban is in my view a tad harder. But neither is unduly difficult; recommended for those new to burrs or non-burrist (like me). The moves are also quite easy to remember and the different colours do help.

Beautiful puzzles and great value for money! Should you opt for either or both? Well, really no need to think...as a good and proper puzzler, getting both is a must!

Burrito & Columnata 2P3C

Name
Burrito / Columnata 2P3C

Designer
Yavuz Demirhan. For Yavuz's other designs, click here. As of this post, he has done a whopping 345 designs!

Manufacturer

Pelikan. 

Type & Classification
Interlocking; both puzzles released in 2013

Dimensions
Burrito - 8cm (length) x 5.2cm (width) x 5.2cm (height)
Columnata 2P3C - 7cm (length) x 4cm (width) x 6cm (height)

Materials & Construction
Burrito - Wenge for the frame and Maple for the pieces
Columnata - Jatoba for the columns and Maple for the pieces

For both puzzles, construction, fit and finish is up to the usual Pelikan standards, very good! All the corners and edges of both puzzles are slightly bevelled and pieces although snug, move smoothly. Nice choice of woods used to provide the contrast of colours.

Burrito
This puzzle consist of 4 congruent pieces interlocked within a frame. I suppose Yavuz chose the name Burrito because it does look like the frame is wrapping the pieces, just like a real burrito sandwich.

Once you start pulling at the pieces, it is quite easy to discover how the pieces are interlocked with each other and the taking apart is pretty straight forward. The Burrito requires 10 steps to fully disassemble. Reassembly is in the reverse and because the pieces are all identical, it is also relatively easy to fit everything right back since the horizontal pieces mirror the vertical pieces.

Columnata 2P3C
The 2P3C stands for 2 pieces and 3 columns. Yavuz also designed three other variants; the 2P2C which is easier than the 2P3C featured here, the 3P2C which is harder and the hardest of the four, the 3P3C has a level 37.9.4 solution, meaning it takes 37 moves to remove the first piece. If ever Yavuz designs a 4P4C, I estimate this will probably take about 120 moves to take apart fully.

The 2P3C is more challenging than the Burrito and this one took me a bit longer to solve. Nonetheless despite a level 12.5 solution, it is still quite manageable given that you can fully see what you are doing and the way the pieces interact with the columns. 

Reassembly will also be simpler if you remember the orientation of the pieces inside the frame. Unfortunately I forgot and it took me a while to get it right and back together.

Summary
Both the Burrito and 2P3C are very good "intro" puzzles for those new to interlocking burrs. 

Certainly they provide confidence and motivation to those like me who are lousy with burrs to play/puzzle with them from time to time. Without too much attendant frustration and without Burr Tools. Much better than just collecting and consigning them to the shelf for display. 

And at great value for money prices, you need not fear plonking down a lot of cash for some bespoke burr, which more often than not causes immense pressure to a puzzler to have to solve the damn thing!

Konstrukt

Name
Konstrukt

Designer
Yavuz Demirhan. For some of Yavuz's other designs, click here.

Nice contrast of light and dark woods and textures

Manufacturer

Pelikan. 

Type & Classification
Interlocking

Dimensions
9.0cm all round. This is a relatively large puzzle making for comfortable handling.

Materials & Construction
The Konstrukt is made of four different hardwoods; Maple, Wenge, Acacia and Paduok. Construction fit and finish is excellent and everything is not too tight and slides smoothly. All the pieces are very nicely cut with fine bevelled edges. Visually the Konstrukt is also an aesthetically pleasing burr due to the contrast of its different coloured woods.

Overview

The Konstrukt is a recent 2013 design from Yavuz Demirhan. An interlocking burr, it consists of 15 pieces of which 12 are congruent. From the remaining three, one pair is also congruent.

The object is to disassemble and reassemble the burr. At first glance you will notice that the puzzle is made up of the pieces criss-crossing each other on all the three axes. Symmetrical all round. Here is where Pelikan has made very good use of the contrasting woods to enable the opposite sides of the puzzle to have distinct colour tones.

The Konstrukt has a 3.2.1.1.2.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.3 solution, meaning it takes three moves to remove the first piece, followed by two for the second and so on. Disassembly is not too difficult once you discover that first (and only) moving piece that locks the entire puzzle in place.

While it took me several minutes to take apart all the outer pieces, for some reason, it took me longer to get the remaining three inside ones free. Putting the pieces back together is the real challenge here. 

As usual, I got stuck after several of the initial moves.Thank goodness Pelikan provided a printed solution which got me going in the right direction. About halfway, I sort of figured out where each piece was supposed to go and didn't have to rely on the solution any more (the printed solution was not too clear anyway, at least nothing compared to the ease of using Burr Tools). 

I eventually got the last two pieces into place only to discover that one of the early pieces was in the wrong position; so I had to re-do part of the puzzle again.

Difficulty Level

Taking the puzzle apart is relatively easy but reassembly is the challenging part, but not unduly so painful. As I mentioned, once you get the first five or six pieces correct, you sort of can figure out the rest slowly even without the solution. If the puzzle had all been of one colour, I think it may have been slightly easier.The correct solution requires that each two opposite sides of the puzzle comprise of just one colour and not a mix of different woods. So a bit of forward thinking early on is necessary. 

Also, because you are trying to grapple with several loose pieces at one time, it can be quite fiddly to physically hold the puzzle to position the pieces correctly.

Summary
A very high quality and fairly challenging burr to collect if you enjoy this genre of puzzles. With sufficient practice, you can actually solve it repeatedly without the solution or Burr Tools. Aside from the puzzling, the rather handsome Konstruckt also displays very well! 

Tetradyma

Name
Tetradyma

Designer
Yavuz Demirhan. For more information on his other puzzle designs, click here.

Manufacturer
Pelikan from the Czech Republic

Type & Classification
Interlocking burr

Dimensions
6.4 cm (Height) x 6.4 cm (Width) x 6.4 cm (Depth).

Materials & Construction
The entire puzzle is made of Wenge wood, giving it a very dark appearance. Construction is very good with light bevelling of the edges for a nicer feel. Fit was a bit on the tight side perhaps due to the humidity, remaining even so after several days in a camera dry box . But things loosened up considerably after some playing and now the pieces slide smoothly but snugly. It's sturdy and would not come apart on its own.

Overview
This a one of a great number of puzzles from super-prolific Turkish designer, Yavuz Demirhan who I understand has done over 150 puzzle designs! I have bought a host of his other puzzles and will get round to them in due course.

The Tetradyma came to me assembled . Comprising of four identical pieces that interlock to form a cube, the object is to firstly figure out how to disassemble the pieces and thereafter put everything back together.  At first, I was wondering if my puzzle was jammed; because no matter how much I pressed and pushed the sides and edges of the puzzle, nothing seemed to budge.

I actually resorted to knocking the puzzle on a piece of rug on the floor to try to loosen things. After a couple of hard knocks, one of the edges began to move ever so slightly and I was well on my way. It didn't take me too long to disassemble the puzzle but assembly was more tricky. Although only four pieces, the pieces are shaped irregularly and being all of the same colour, trying to fit them back together proved to be far more challenging than taking apart. After a while of fiddling, I managed to manoeuvre (if this is the right term to use) the last piece back into its place before sliding the puzzle back into its solved cube state.

Difficulty Level
Easy-ish to moderate difficulty; but that's because it came assembled. I would imagine it to be far more challenging if it came disassembled and you have to first figure out the solved shape. In this instance, I didn't have to resort to Burr Tools :-)

Summary
This in my view is a great puzzle for puzzlers who (like moi) cannot handle those "twenty-something-moves-to-remove-the-first-piece" type interlocking burrs. Relatively easy to take apart  but with a bit more effort required to put together. Nice!

Vectes / Ghidorah

Name
Vectes / Ghidorah

Designer
Ghidorah - Yavuz Demirhan
Vectes - Alfons Eyckmans

Ghidorah

Vectes

Manufacturer
Eric Fuller. Puzzle(s) were from www.cubicdissection.com for US$89. Currently sold out.

Type & Classification
Both are interlocking burrs

Dimensions
Vectes - 8.8 cm (Height) x 8.8 cm (Width) x 8.8 cm (Depth).
Ghidorah - 6.6 cm (Height) x 6.6 cm (Width) x 6.6 cm (Depth).

Materials & Construction
Walnut, Canarywood and Yellowheart. Quality of construction, fit and finish is of the usual Eric Fuller excellent standards. Very tight tolerances and pieces moved smoothly, but when left out in the open, was not really affected by the humidity and this is due to Eric making them a "looser fit" to begin with.

Overview
This puzzle is rather unusual because its really "two" puzzles combined into one. Both the designers of the Vectes and Ghidorah puzzles had co-incidentally designed a "cage" which was identical for their pieces to fit into. So I suppose you can say I got two puzzles for the price of one; well... more like one and a half puzzles since there was only one cage supplied.

Eric says the Ghidorah is the "warm up" puzzle, meaning its suppose to be easier and the one you should begin with of the two. The Ghidorah has a "simpler" 22.3.4 solution, in that it requires (only) 22 moves to remove the first piece, while the more difficult Vectes has a 37.2.3 solution; 37 moves for the first piece to be extracted from the cage. I am not sure how even the Ghidorah can be considered easier (not easy), not for me at least.

Vectes / Ghidorah with a common cage

The puzzle came disassembled and so it was not a matter of getting the first piece out but rather figuring how to insert the pieces into the cage correctly and solve the puzzle. Using the photo on Eric's website, I tried to see what I could do. But as in interlocking puzzles of this nature, they are usually way beyond me almost always all the time. Without any luck on Ghidorah after quite a while, I didn't even try to attempt the harder Vectes.

But luckily I have learnt to use Burrtools and this as usual came in very handy indeed. However, because the puzzle came unsolved, I had some initial difficulty trying to get the drawings rendered right with the programme. I could only rely on photos of the puzzles in their solved state, not the actual puzzles themselves. So even using the software here was a bit of a challenge.

Difficulty Level
Just two words - Extremely difficult! Made more so by the fact that they are shipped unassembled.

Summary
For me, they are more a collector's puzzles than something that I will play. As one well known puzzle designer has commented, there are puzzle collectors and there are puzzlers solvers, and the two are sometimes mutually exclusive. I definitely fall into the former category.

If anyone wants the Burrtools files for these two puzzles, please feel free to PM me via my profile email.

Burrs Galore!

Due to work and other personal commitments, I have not played with or reviewed any puzzles for a while. But during the last several weeks, a number of new wooden burr puzzles arrived, the latest batch from Jakub and Jaroslav Dvorak of Pelikan and Eric Fuller's Cubicdissection.

Clockwise from top left: Unassembled Vectes/Ghidorah (Yavuz Demirhan/Alfons Eyckmans),
Triaxe (Stephane Chomine), Estergon 2 (Yavuz Demirhan),
Columnata 2P3C (Yavuz Demirhan), Cockpit (Osanori Yamamoto),
Ice Pillar (Osanori Yamamoto), unassembled Four Cross Twelve (Guy Brette),
Derek's Half Dozen (Derek Bosch), Centre: unassembled 2-In-1 (Oskar Van Deventer)

Now what was I thinking when I ordered so many puzzles, I am now wondering to myself. Well, for one, I was attracted by some of the very colourful woods used, for example, Eric Fuller's 2-In-1 which uses 12 species of exotic hardwoods. Another reason being I wanted to have a bit more hands-on play with burrs, since I don't own many of them (and absolutely lousy with burrs!)....hmm, but now I am not so sure after looking at this complicated stash.

Virtually all of these are "super expert" level and "many-many-moves-before-the-first piece-can-be-removed" type burrs and interlocking puzzles. I am not even sure which one of these wooden beauties to start with. I still have a backlog of other puzzles which I have yet to touch beyond their unwrapping. If anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to comment.

I think I have bitten off a lot lot more than I can chew. But knowing myself, I would not unduly labour and lose sleep over a puzzle beyond a certain amount of time. I will still enjoy the exploration process of trying to it take apart and re-assembly even if I can't solve the damn thing. So we'll see how it goes with this lot of ten in the weeks, months (or years) to come.